# Making the Lord Your Shepherd

Category: Worship & Praise
Key Passage: Psalm 23:1
Date: June 7, 2024

I have not checked the total number in Sunday school this morning, but I’ve heard a lot of different reports from a lot of different classes that were up today. And praise the Lord for that. And I say that to encourage you, let’s stay faithful to Sunday school. Let’s invite other people to be in school class. And let’s keep working. This thing is Sunday.

It’s vital that our church works this thing. And I’m curious, I wish I checked it before, the total number of class, what we had. We were up last Sunday when we made the change, and I’m praying we stay up. I’ve heard reports from classes, I think, just about everyone, they were up today. Praise the Lord for that. And so let’s keep working this thing. Psalms 23 is one of the most…

Your passages in all the Bible. If I preach a funeral, and maybe sometimes I’ll mention the families or a passage you like for me to focus on to read or something, the typical one is Psalms 23. And so much here in this chapter of the Bible. In fact, for the last—and I’ll change on it—for the last month or so, every morning or every…

I’m coming over here for work, and I leave my house, and I quote Psalm 23 in my truck. It’s just so much there, and you’ll never get it all in there. It’s just a great, great passage in the Bible. We’re going to start with that first verse, Psalm 23. Just verse number one to get us going here tonight. Psalm 23, verse number one. Let’s stand if you would please.

And “Making the Lord Your Shepherd” will be the title for tonight. And that first verse, Psalm 23 and verse number one, the Bible simply says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Would you read that verse out loud with me, please? We’re waiting kind of for everybody. Let’s wait for just a second. We get everybody in here, get everybody all. We’re waiting to get it all good, good, good. We’re trying to get everybody situated here. That way we get focused. You don’t have to sit yoga style to get focused, but we’re going to work at it, amen. And good deal. Here we go. Here we go. Let’s read out loud together, verse number one, Psalm 23, verse number one.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” There’s a lot there. So much there. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to speak to our heart about this thing and making him our shepherd.

Father, Lord, become… Lord, give us a vision. Let it be real to us what it would be, even these young people here tonight, for us, for them to make you their shepherd. Lord, grow us from the youngest Christian to the most mature Christian. Speak to us all about this thing of making you our shepherd.

Would you do so, Lord, please? Grow us in this thing, and we’ll brag on you for what you do, Lord. Guide me in this, and we’ll thank you for it. In Jesus’ name we pray and believe it. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. If, and it is true, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” If I’m wanting…

Everybody look up, everybody look up, everybody look up. Pass notes, put it all down, put it all down. But there you go, put it away. And good, good, good. If I’m wanting, then the Lord’s not the shepherd, okay? Now, there’s so much there, we won’t get it all. But sometimes when we’re overly seeking others’ approval, we’re wanting. It means the Lord is not our shepherd. Now, there’s some—you want your spouse’s approval. That’s not bad as long as not overly.

But if I’m just to the point where I’m always dwelling on thinking about what do other people think about me, then the Lord’s not my shepherd. Because if the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Y’all will be today? There’s so much of this statement here. And sometimes just because of insecurities or past or wounds or whatever, [I am] very insecure. But the statement is still true.

If I’m just—and sometimes, sometimes we can become a lover of praise. We’re always thinking about it and dwelling on people. And if I’m there, I’m just wanting other people’s approval and their stamp and their praise, the Lord’s not my shepherd. There’s a lot here, so much here, this thing. And sometimes, sometimes if I’m doing what I’m doing because of other people and praise and all that, the Lord’s not my shepherd.

When I’m not content financially, if I’m always, always, always just wanting more, more, more. Amen, I got some in there. A lot of times I use—it’s not because I’m having—just always used my debit card. Man, I’m rich tonight. Look at that. Some cash in there. Woo! I tell you what, two bucks. Amen, brother, I can say, “Hand it over, man.” But if I’m always, always wanting more, the Lord’s not the shepherd.

Remember what he said, the love of—not money, but the love of money—is the root of how much evil? That’s amazing.

My wife’s good, and I’m thankful for it. My wife’s good at contentment. Remember she drove that gray Jetta for years and years of TDI. This means it’s a diesel. Man, it got about 40 miles to a gallon. Woo, we like that. And the Lord really gave her that car. He really—some of you know the story, and I won’t go into it. Man, she’s been content all the years. She liked that little car.

You could hear it coming. I mean, I didn’t have to look and see if that was my wife or not. I could hear that little diesel, that little rumble to it. You know, I mean, you could hear it anywhere, you know. And I think sometimes the Lord had to let her get hit, rear-ended, for her to change, because she was just content with that. And I’m glad to have a wife like that. And God’s giving her something better, really, and upgraded it.

And she’s content with the house we got. Now, I’m speaking for her a little bit. She’s in the nursery tonight. I got up here, didn’t see her anywhere. I said, “Man, where’s my wife at?” So I wanted to make sure. I haven’t seen her. I haven’t talked to her this afternoon since I woke up from a nap. And she was still taking the nap. And so I left, came to church, got ready. And I haven’t seen her and talked to her. I didn’t see her. I said, “Man, where is she at?” And so I went back to the nursery. Somebody’s taking my hand. You’re on a mission. I want to make sure my wife’s around. Amen. Got to take care of my baby, you know. And she’s up in the nursery listening and correct me later on about it. All right. But I think she’s battled from time to time. Our house, it’s about 1,200 square feet, uh, and she’s all right with that, but there’s not enough closet space. Some of you ladies know what I’m talking about. And I think from time to time that’s maybe been a little battle for her, but for the most part, she’s won that battle. She’s very content. We’ll talk about—we love her house.

But if I’m not—I’m used my wife as a good illustration—but if I’m not content, the Lord’s not my shepherd. I’m just wanting more, more, more. It’s amazing. I drove to church this morning and seen so many people working on Sunday morning, and I thought, “Man, they’re doing it the hard way.”

They’d be better to seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He can take care of these things. I’m not saying it’s always a sin to work on Sunday. I understand doctors and nurses and all the rest of that. Man, people just working on Sunday left and right in America. And I thought, “Man, fellas, I can tell you a better way to do this thing, and you can be content in the process. Make the Lord your shepherd.” It’s amazing in America, how much we have cars and everything else is lacking in contentment. I’ll tell you how they get to the Lord be their shepherd. If the Lord is truly my shepherd, I’m not going to want. People just—we lack in being content with our lives. I’ll be around, and I can fall into this trap maybe sometimes, but I’ll be around other preachers, not always, and I don’t know their heart, but it seems like sometimes they want a better church. I praise the Lord. Best church, amen. I mean, they can’t steal it. I mean, I got the greatest people in the world, you know. But they’re not content. And we’re just prone not to be content with our job and our career and our home and our house and our marriage and even our kids and da-da-da-da. And we’re just wanting more. The Lord’s not my shepherd. And there’s just so much to this thing about the Lord being a shepherd. We won’t get it all in here.

But you can just say if there’s no contentment, if I’m not content where I’m at, it equals the Lord’s not my shepherd. Because if the Lord is my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want to be one anymore. Lord’s not my shepherd. So briefly, let’s just hit some of these things. Maybe the Lord guides us. How do I make the Lord my shepherd? All right? First thing, just the word shepherd.

It reminds us of John 10, where it says he’s the good shepherd, Jesus, and I’m the good shepherd. And he giveth his life for his sheep. And our shepherd went to the cross of Calvary, shed his blood. So the last part of that chapter where I’ll dwell in the house of the Lord forever, I’ll be in heaven forever. If I let him be my shepherd that lays down his life for me, if I get saved. By the way, if you’re not headed to heaven forever, the alternative is hell. And that’s not real good, folks. But there’s no in between, no purgatory. That’s not the Bible, folks. And so first of all, the Lord’s truly going to be my shepherd. I need to know for sure I’m saved, going to heaven and not going to hell. Okay? So it starts there. The Lord is my shepherd.

But let’s keep going in this Psalm here, in this passage. Psalm 23. Look in verse number two. Let’s get the next statement he makes. He says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” What’s the next phrase? Read it with me if you’re here. Here we go. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.”

There’s that little stanza there. I’m sorry. I didn’t make it clear. It’s me, not you. But they say for sheep—we’ve had one sheep. I’m not an expert on it, but I’ve read experts on it, if you will. And they say for sheep to lie down, several things have to happen. One thing, they have to be free of fear. They cannot have a lot of… flies and pests and whatnot. And there can’t be a lot of [fighting] inside the flock. There can be fussing and sheep, and they’re fearful. They won’t lie down. And here’s the thing—I think the Lord wants to focus on for just a minute here in this part of it—they cannot be fearful of food. They’ve got to be full or fed or know there’s food around. If they don’t, they won’t lie down.

Now, here’s the thing. Here’s the thing. If I or someone else does not make the Lord their shepherd, so often you can just ask a couple things. You can—a lot of times find out the problem: Have you been in your Bible? Have you been having your devotions? Have I been reading your Bible? The Lord is not going to be my shepherd where he makes me to lie down in green pastures unless I’ve been fed. Coming to church is part of it, but man, you’re daily, you’re daily getting fed from the Word.

And someone—sometimes you see someone, they’re just wanting, they’re not content. And so often, I think of another guy that’s in the ministry, good guy. And he often, he’ll just ask somebody real quick when they’re having troubles, “You’ve been having your devotions?” And that’ll tell me so much. Am I getting fed from the Word of God? Have I been reading my Bible? If the Lord is truly going to be my shepherd, I need to be into the Word. He’s not going to be able to make me lie down. They say sheep won’t lie down if they’re hungry.

I like these. Someone—one of our men yesterday—he said, “I like these statements.” He said this yesterday. He said, “It’s amazing how the Bible just speaks to you when you need it. It gives you just what you need when you need it.” It is incredible, and how much it covers. When’s the last time you felt like that? One of our older ladies recently told me, they said, “It seems like the older I get, the more the Bible just is so rich and it speaks to me so much.” That’s wonderful. That’s part of the Lord being my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down. They say sheep won’t lie down if they’re hungry.

To be feeding. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That’s how I get fed. Let’s keep going. Just if the Lord’s going to be my shepherd, I don’t want—I won’t want. So if I’m wanting, I’m not my shepherd. So how do I make him my shepherd? Well, I feed on his Word. What’s the next little phrase there?

We just read, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” Let’s get the next phrase here. Everybody, let’s get it. Psalm 23. If you don’t have a Bible, there’s a pew Bible right in the chair in front of you, and get it there. Good, good, good. Emily’s making sure I see she’s got a Bible, and that’s a good thing. Thank you. I’m glad for it. That’s a good thing. Everybody, let’s get her Bibles. And Dresan, you got one back there, man? Good deal, good, good, good. We’re making sure we’re covered. Psalms 23. That’s where we’re at. Psalms 23. The good thing, we’re in verse number two. We read the first part of the verse. Let’s read the second part of the verse here. Here we go. You’re ready? “He leadeth me beside.” Now, really, we could just stop at this part. I think the Lord wants us to focus on this: “He leadeth me.”

Now, here’s an interesting thing. The sheep—the sheep can be in a fold that the shepherd is leading, but the sheep are not following the shepherd, some of them. Now he said, “Wait a second.” Brother Frank just gave me one of those, “What in the world do you know?” Now, here’s the thing that I read—I actually can find it on the internet. In July of 2005 in Turkey, where they have a lot of sheep, a lot of shepherds, there was a report in a town over there that one shepherd was watching a lot of the town’s sheep, thousands of sheep. And one of the sheep, kind of like a leader sheep, I don’t know why. It didn’t say why. I’ve read it in other places, to other sources. But I don’t know if they got… afraid something started, want, but the one sheep ran over a cliff, and when it did, 1,100 sheep followed. Now, they were in the fold, but they weren’t following the shepherd. They were following other sheep.

Now, here’s a good thing. Over a thousand sheep—when they say the cliff, when they fell down—400 sheep died. But the… no, I’m sorry, it’s 1,500 altogether. The first 400 died when they fell down the cliff; they hit the bottom. But they created enough of a cushion, their dead bodies, that the next 1,100 that were following the sheep in front of them landed on top of the dead sheep, and they got hurt, but they didn’t get killed. We can’t understand it all. Hey, we have an epidemic of this in America.

How in the world can so many Christians go to such a worldly church? They’re not following the shepherd. They’re following sheep around them. And they feel comfortable and they feel good. They may be a saved individual, part of the fold. I don’t know. But they feel comfortable because everybody’s going there, and they feel good, they look good, and they’re following the sheep. It’s to the shepherd. It’s a very old, sacred thing, a very scary thing in some ways. The Bible over in First Peter alludes to me, being the pastor, being the under shepherd. I’m not the shepherd, though. We had someone say, “Well, he’s our shepherd.” I understand. I think maybe one time I said something to him, but they just didn’t get it. But I’m not the shepherd. I’m the under shepherd, but he’s the shepherd. And actually, if the under shepherd’s not following the shepherd, I’d find another under shepherd.

But this thing, “He leadeth me.” Now listen to me, I’m just trying to talk a little bit frankly about the Lord being shepherd. I’m thinking about two individuals. They both have told me at different times when we hang around each other, “It’s not good for us.” They’ve told me that. And I don’t think either one that’s horrible. I love them both. They’ve told me. They’ve not been in church. One of them was. And I thought, “Man, what’s going on?” I wonder what’s going on there. And I tried to pray for them. I sent them texts and all that. And then I heard they’re hanging around together. And I said, “Well, I know what’s going on now.” They both have admitted to me. And here’s the thing: Look, if I’m not careful, I’m following all the sheep that I’m around, and he’s not leading me, the shepherd. See? Now, there’s some you can use that for good, and God uses church for good in that, but I’ve got to be careful of evil in that. I love our church. We’ve got to have a wonderful church family. Praise the Lord for every person here. We’ve got a great church family. As much as I love them, I don’t want them to be my shepherd, though. Go ahead and me my shepherd.

And “He leadeth me.” And if I’m not careful, I’m following all these around here, and I’m not content, and I’m wanting, I’m lacking something, because he’s not my shepherd. If the Lord’s my shepherd, I don’t want. Let me just ask you a moment as to move to the next point: When’s the last time the Lord gave you good leadership? The Lord gave you some clear leading. The Lord, he—he leadeth me.

Let’s go to the next passage here. The next thing he says here, just about the Lord being my shepherd. And we got verse number two. We covered parts of that. Verse number three, that… Oh, that first just four words. Would you read the first four words out loud with me? Verse number three, Psalm 23, verse number three. The first four words, would you read it out loud with me? Here we go. “He restored my soul.”

And I can say, I’m not a shepherd. I’ve had one sheep—actually, my daughter did. But shepherds, they say, they think this is where it’s talking about: Sheep get what they call cast. And sheep, they actually will roll over on their back, their legs up, and they can’t get up, and they’re cast. Now, sometimes they can’t, but sometimes they’ll get cast, and when they get cast, if they stay like that, they’ll die. As well, sometimes the shepherd, he has to walk out in the fields and make sure all the sheep are not cast.

Several reasons for that. Sometimes because their wool coat is too big. They haven’t been sheared a long time. It’s wet, it’s heavy, and they get rolled over on their back, they can’t get up, or maybe they’re having babies or whatnot. Sometimes there’s a rut. There’s a rut in the ground, and they’re laying over on their side, you know, like a sheep wheel when it’s comfortable, and then it’ll roll over into the rut, upside down, and it can’t get up, and it just tries to get up on its four legs, and it can’t, and it’ll die.

And the shepherd has to walk the field, and they’ll come along, and he’ll find some sheep that are cast. And he’ll have to go—they say typically they’ll kind of straddle the sheep, especially if they’re having babies, they have to be very gentle, they say, with them. And they’ll get that sheep, and they’ll actually have to lift that sheep up and put it on its feet, whereas they’ll die.

And most shepherds, they’ll say they think that’s what the Lord is referring to when he says, “Restoreth my soul.” Now, so much, we won’t get covered, but sometimes I just have too many weights in my life, and I have to let the shepherd shear me and get some of that fur off because I’m always cast. And so the shepherd will pick me up, and he says, “I need to solve the problem so you don’t get cast again.” And he wants to get rid of some of my weights. Not necessarily something sinful, but I just have so many weights in my life. And he might say, “Hey, man, you maybe you’ve got too much recreation. Maybe you’ve got too much of things. Maybe not your focus, but it’s on your outskirts. You’ve got so many things going on. Paul, you need to cut some things out of your life.” And I have to let my—if the Lord’s going to be my shepherd, I’ve got to let him restore my soul.

Sometimes I’ve gotten in a rut, and just everything’s blah, and I need to go out and maybe have some extra time reading my Bible or praying. I mentioned Brother Bobby this morning, and I remember one time he mentioned this. He said, “I was in what they called midlife crisis.” And he said, “I think it’s real for ladies and men.” And he said, “The Lord challenged me there in that time. I needed to read more Bible.” And he said, “That’s the answer God gave me.” He said, “Man, it was just—it was what I needed.” But he let the Lord restore. When’s the last time the Lord came over and he just came over in your life? It picked you up. That’s what it’s talking about, the Lord being your shepherd. He restores my soul.

Let’s look at the next saying. Back over here in Psalm 23. That rest of the verse—we read the first four words, all right, verse number three. Let’s get the rest of the verse here. The last part of the verse here. All ready. “He leadeth me.” Here we go. “He leadeth me.” So much there, but let me just get a couple of things in there. When’s the last time you’ve witnessed to someone, giving them a gospel tract, told him about the Lord? “He leadeth me in paths of righteousness.” Now, there’s a whole lot, not just witnessing thing. That’s the path. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I make you fishers of men.”

He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. When’s the last time you let him lead you? Paths of righteousness. It may be cutting things out of your life. I need to get a more righteous life. You know, I’m going to get it somewhere in there. It may be—it may be you don’t have to turn a knob nowadays. It may be—or nowadays, nowadays, who is it? You say, “Alexa, turn the bloop tube off.” I don’t know if you understand bloop tube. You don’t turn it off, you know.

That may be part of him leading you in paths of righteousness. It may—I think about a young person in a church at one point, said, “Pastor, I’m just deleting my Facebook account, my Instagram, all of it, because I want to live a cleaner life for the Lord.” Now, I’m not saying it’s a thing. I’m saying this young person said, “Hey, I’m going to let him lead me in paths of righteousness.”

A lot there. But look at the last part of that little phrase there. He said, “He leadeth me in paths of righteousness.” What’s the last little part? “For his.” We mentioned this morning, motives are key. Are motives? Am I doing truly what I’m doing truly for the Lord? Or is it kind of for me?

“He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Our motives, and here’s the thing: Motives are tricky. And that’s why we must have the Holy Spirit and yield to the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit, “What are my motives?” What are my motives? I’ve questioned myself and asked the Holy Spirit many times, “Do I want Brother of County Baptist Church to grow for me or for the Lord and for people?” And that’s right to do. Let the Spirit work in your heart. Trying to keep your motives right. If not, our heart’s prone to wander. That’s why I said, he said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, know my thoughts, and lead me in the way everlasting.” You’ve got to have that leadership of the Spirit of God to keep your motives right. See? It’s key. If the Lord’s going to be my shepherd, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name.

Now, the next verse, verse number four, is really about valleys. We just preached on valleys on Sunday morning for about a month. Let’s just keep going to move on. Let’s jump down to verse number five. We’re going to get a couple of thoughts in here, and we’re going to be dismissed because young people want to get some Steak 'n Shake in there, right? Anybody hungry for Steak 'n Shake over there? Oh yeah, Steak 'n Shake’s got some good, some good shakes in there. And anybody like a strawberry banana shake out there? Anybody like this strawberry and banana? We’ve got a couple people on board there. Anybody like the mint chocolate chip shake? Oh, got some people on there. Tell me what’s your favorite shake? Tell me what’s your favorite shake? Tell me what’s your favorite shake? I heard them all, amen. I like them all, amen. Reces, I hear the racist shake. All of them is good, amen. So we got to get done because the young people are going to go get some shakes here.

And verse number five, verse number five, Psalm 23, verse number five. Just that first part, we won’t get all this verse here. That first part, it’ll start with “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence…”

Yeah. Here’s the thought. The Holy Spirit can use this in so many different ways, but it’s when we get a focus off of, “Lord, I want a life with no enemies,” to where our focus becomes, “It doesn’t matter, Lord, as long as you’re here with me, you can prepare a table even with enemies around.” Now, when we think of enemies, we think of—we think of, with sheep, it would be wolves or a cougar. I was reading a book about a shepherd, and he said a cougar came in, and he said he was a young shepherd. He said, “I had to learn any sound.” He said after that, because I think it was the cougar that had gotten—oh, I can’t remember how many sheep it just killed so many sheep in one night. And he said after that, he would sleep as a—I think he was a .308 or .30-30, something like that—and his flashlight. And he said, “Any sound, I was up with my rifle and my flashlight,” and he said he had a dog, “and my dog would be there.” He said, “We’d go out looking for whatever. He said, every time, every time.” And so…

So we think of that of enemies, but can I change enemies and make it a little bit more real for us? If we’re not careful, we’ll focus on, “I don’t want any enemies.” And then I’ll serve you. Let me tell you what that would look like: “Lord, when I get a car that is paid for, I get my education, I have my career settled, I get my house paid for, I get my marriage established, I get my kids raised, then I’ll serve you, Lord.” But when you get to that point, say, “I’m going to have enemies.” That’s part of this life.

I’m going to have cars break down, going to have washing machines break down, going to have visits to the doctor. I’m going to have unexpected bills. I’m going to have problems with my children, my spouse. I’m not going to duck quick enough every time when they’re swinging, you know, whatever it may be. But you’re not focused on living a life without enemies. You’re focused on the shepherd. There’s a different mindset. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” right in the middle of enemies everywhere. It’s a different mindset. But when the Lord becomes your shepherd, it is a different mindset.

Can I say this is a little more personal for me? But I have at times said, “All right, I’m going to pray more about my finances.” Me personally, I’m told me, not church, about my personal finance. Can I be honest with it? Typically, that’s not good for me. It’s hurt me. Now, I pray for my finances, almost like, “Lord, he just put a little part in there, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’” And I pray for my finance, but usually it’s better for me if I just praise the Lord. “You’ve always taken care of this. Thank you for providing for us. Lord, do I need to make any changes in the finance to tell me, help us to handle this month right? Would you give us plenty of money this month?” And just real quick, and I’m done. That’s usually better for me. That way I’m focusing more on the Lord. And it may be different for you. I’m not trying to say for you. But when you get to the point, “I want to get a life free of enemies,” you never get there. You just never will. People live their life planning for retirement, and then they retire, and they have to go to the doctor all the time. Anybody know what I’m talking about out there? And then they got kid problems, you know, grandkids. They’re going to have enemies. But you say, “You know, God prepares a table in the presence of enemies.” And the Lord’s your shepherd, he’ll prepare a table.

Now, the last—we’ve already mentioned that last phrase. Let’s just show you. That last phrase there, he says, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” We skipped a bunch. Can I just mention two things? One of them already mentioned. One thing: I’m going to be in church. I’m going to be in church. If the Lord is my shepherd, I need to be in his house. First Timothy 3:15 says church, the house of God. Church. I commend you hell in the house of the Lord forever, and then eternally forever. That’s heaven. It’s going to be with the Lord forever. The Lord’s your shepherd. But down here, friend, making the Lord your shepherd, it’s key.

If I’m wanting, if I’m wanting more, I’m not content, mark it down. Lord’s not my shepherd. Somewhere along the line, something has hindered me from letting God be my shepherd. Because if he’s my shepherd, I won’t be wanting. And I have to—I have to go up, God, where have I missed it? Somewhere I’ve missed it. I’m not letting you be my shepherd. So much more, of course, and I don’t even know there in that passage, but just let the Lord be your shepherd. You won’t be wanting. There’s a special bond between a sheep and its shepherd.

I mentioned—how many of you heard me talk about our sheep Snowball before? Most of you have. You know about it. It was my daughter’s sheep. She had bought it as a lamb, a baby lamb, and she had paid for it, saved the money, paid for it. She was just a little girl at the time. So she bought it, and, you know, we got it. Snowball, we called it—she named it Snowball. Snowball grew up, became in the neighborhood pet and our pet, you know. And we had had Snowball for a while, and we’d get a little old, and Sarah’s getting busy in school and everything else growing up, and we couldn’t take care of Snowball real good. So we sold Snowball to a shepherd—I mean, had a lot of sheep down Woodbury way. And she sold it to them, and they came, picked it up. Never forget pickup truck, had a cage in the back, put Snowball in there, and Snowball told Sarah bye and all that. And we said, “Hey, would you do this? Snowball was a girl. If Snowball ever has a baby, would you let us know? We’d like to come.” “Oh, we’ll do that. Well, sure enough.”

One winter—a lot of times sheep have their babies in wintertime, very interested with Christmas and all that stuff—so we got a call. And would you tell the girl that had this sheep that it had a baby? And so one ice cream time on me as Sarah, one of our dates, you know, and she’s a little girl, we said, “Let’s go to Woodbury,” and we drove down to Woodbury. It was getting dark in wintertime. And Snowball—interesting story—Snowball had had a baby sheep in a snowstorm. And they named the baby Snowflake. So Snowball had Snowflake.

And when we got down there, he had a bunch of sheep on a hillside, hillside there, just kind of in the woods out that way. Sheep all over the place. Very nice people. And he said, “Snowball has been closer really to people than any sheep we’ve ever had, because it was raised in our house half the time, you know.” And I said, “Man, Snowball was always with us. She was one of our best sheep. I mean, she was more like a pet than a sheep.” And he had a bunch of sheep all over. It was a farm. He was doing it for his living, you know. And he said, “Snowball’s been her pet, but when she had that baby, she pulled away from everybody, more like a normal sheep.” And Snowball—she has got her baby Snowflake up there on the hillside, and you can see away from it, and we can’t get close to Snowball. That’s what sheep do when they have babies. And he said, “We’ve not been able to get real close to her.” It’s interesting. It’s getting dark. We had flashlights and whatnot. And so he said, “We can’t really get Snow close.” So he said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen if you try to go over there. He said, ‘I can’t get close right now to Snowball very much right now.’”

And Sarah was standing at a good distance, and Sarah, with her little girl voice, and she’s older, a year or so older, she says, “Hey, Snowball!” And you can tell Snowball kind of snapped out of motherhood for a little bit. Said, “That’s my shepherd’s voice.” And nobody could get close to Snowball, but Sarah started walking up there. Snowball didn’t take her little lamb and run away. She let her shepherd get up there, and she let her shepherd comfort her. And they had their special moment. And it’s almost like Snowball said, “Oh, man, I got a baby,” and she went back to her little lamb.

There’s something special about a sheep and its shepherd. Special bond there. And that’s the bond God wants with you. He wants to be your shepherd. And when the Lord is truly your shepherd, you won’t want anything else. You’d be content. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Would you bow your heads, please?

Yeah, there, and you say, “Preacher, I want the Lord to be my shepherd. I want the Lord to be my shepherd.” God spoke to my heart about that. I want the Lord to be my shepherd. That’s your night. You slip your hand up. “Preacher, I want the Lord to be my shepherd.” Me too, me too. I’m there with you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Many, many hands. You can put your hands down.

You’re here tonight. You said, “Preacher, I need to make a change. I see it. God spoke to my heart. I need to make a change. I need the Lord to be my shepherd. He’s not been my shepherd.” And I see you the last year, and I know some things. I need to make some changes to make him my shepherd. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you. Not you slip in the bridge. That’s me. That’s me. God bless you. Let’s work at this thing. Let’s work at it. We want him to be our shepherd. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so very much.

Maybe you’re here tonight, and you say, “Preacher, to be honest with you, I don’t know that I’m going to heaven. I don’t know that I’ll dwell in his house forever. When I die, I don’t know if I go to heaven or hell. I don’t know that he’s my shepherd.”

“Preacher, I don’t know that I’m going to heaven. I don’t know if I go to heaven or hell. I’m not sure about that.” I’m not going to call your name anything. I’d love to pray for you. Then you say, “I don’t know I’m going to heaven.” When you slip your hand up, you say, “I don’t know I’m going to heaven.” Don’t know if I go to heaven or hell. Anybody like that? I won’t call your name. I’m not going to embarrass you. I pray for you. You don’t know if you slip your hand up. All right, all right. A moment, we’re going to pray. We’ll all stand, and we’ll all…

As soon as we say amen, I believe there’ll be people coming forward. They’ll come down to the altar and they’ll just—they’ll pray, trying to get closer to the Lord, making him their shepherd. If you’re not sure you’re going to heaven, would you come just shake my hand? I’ll be standing down here and shake my hand, and I’ll get someone to take the Bible and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you’re going to heaven. God loves you. He wants you go to heaven. We’d like to help in that. Okay? Just a minute when other people are coming.

Let’s all stand, if you would, please. Let’s all stand. And we’re going to have a word of prayer. Then we’re going to sing, page 20, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” Let’s just draw nigh to him tonight. Let’s do our best to make him our shepherd. And if you’re not sure heaven’s your home, would you come? I’ll be standing down front here. You’ll come shake my hand. We’ll get somebody to help you in that. We’d love to be helping in that. Let’s pray. And would you come be obedient to the Lord? Thank you, Lord. You’re here available waiting to be our shepherd. Lord, this one that raised their hand, they don’t know they’re going to heaven. Lord, let them know we love them, give them the courage to come and shake my hand. And Lord, I pray they get saved and go to heaven tonight. And Lord, Father, help us to grow in this thing. We won’t be wanting. Lord, help us to grow in this thing and making you our shepherd. And Lord, we’ll thank you and praise you and brag on you for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The shepherd is talking about so much tonight. He said at one point, there was some stray dogs that were in the neighborhood, and they were getting sheep. And so he just extra vigil. If he heard any sound in the middle of the night, he’d go out there. Sometimes they’d have to sleep into the stars. They’re shepherd who were to watch your sheep. And said at one point, there were some rustlers that would steal sheep. And he said, “Boy, he was just staying out a lot at nighttime.” And he said, word got around town: the shepherds were ready for those rustlers. So they left.

But here’s the thing. He said, some of those times, he said, the sheep would know—they’re all restless, moving around, fidgety, wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t get rest. You could tell their health was going down. And he said, you could watch when the shepherd would come out there in the middle of the night. Might be sound, a wolf in the background howling or something, you know. And he said, the shepherd would come out to it. He said, “I’d have my rifle, I’m a little flashlight.” He said, “I’d usually have my collie dog.” And he said, you can kind of see the sheep settle down, lay down, and rest. That’s what happens when the Lord becomes your shepherd. Peace comes.

He can be our Savior, and we’re going to have it eternally. He’s our shepherd, but we’re not walking with Him. He’s not shepherding us. Let me just challenge you: Let’s do our best. “Lord, I want you to be my shepherd.” Oh, let them know I want you to be my shepherd. And glad you’re in church tonight. Praise the Lord, you’re here. And pray one’s being dealt with. How many of you are going to go get a shake tonight? Am I going to get a shake tonight? Man, wow, no shakes tonight. Wow. We went to Arby’s the other day. I said Jamaica, but it’s not a Jamaica. It’s not how you say a Jamaica shake. It were pretty good stuff there, you know. But anyway, amen. Glad you’re in the house of the Lord on Sunday night. Appreciate you being faithful. And praise the Lord for that. We’ll have a good weekend next week, and looking forward to God working in our hearts next weekend in a great, great way. And I’m glad you’re here. Brother Frank, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer, please, brother?

Original File: The Lord is my Shepherd - Sunday Evening Service 111019